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I will declare your name to my brothers; in the midst of the Church I will praise you. And for this return on high, the Lord will judge the peoples. Judge me, O Lord, according to your righteousness, and according to my innocence be it unto me. Since God will bring every work into judgment, and all must stand before the judgment seat of Christ, David, having reasonably learned that he is about to judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in uprightness, says, 'Be my judge, O Lord, not according to my other deeds, but according to my simplicity and righteousness.' 23.125 Let the wickedness of sinners be brought to an end, and you will direct the righteous, O God who tests hearts and minds. It is a thing of knowledge and great import to ask for an end to be made of evil, and for guidance for the righteous so that he may no longer be storm-tossed. Speaking about the just judgment of God, he declares that only a righteous one is judge, as he alone sees the hearts; for he repays each according to his works. For man looks on the outward appearance, but he is the judge of the thoughts and intentions of the heart; no creature is hidden from his sight. Having shown God to be such, with a confident conscience he says: My help is from God, who saves the upright in heart. For he hopes for good things because of the one who tests hearts and minds, as having nothing crooked in his heart. If you do not turn back, he will whet his sword; he has bent and made ready his bow. Perhaps these things are said implicitly about the devil; for it is he who, in regard to these, has conceived injustice, and what follows. Behold, he has been in labor with injustice, he has conceived trouble, and brought forth iniquity. He dug a pit and hollowed it out, and he will fall into the ditch which he has made. His trouble will return upon his own head, and his injustice will descend upon his own crown. These things were explicitly fulfilled in Ahithophel. For having been outwitted by Hushai, and despairing of Absalom's affairs, as a wise man, and fearing the impending punishment from David, he returned home and hanged himself, suffering the very things he had plotted for David to suffer, and wiping the malice against him off onto his own head. And in general, everyone, through the evils he has wrought, brings the verdict against himself on the day of judgment. I will give thanks to the Lord according to his righteousness, I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High. And as one who himself has plotted against no one, nor dug a pit, but overlooks the unjust of the ungodly who are perishing in judgment, 'I will give thanks,' he says, 'to the Lord according to his righteousness;' Setting forth my own righteous deeds as if in a court of law; 'and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high,' believing that I will be deemed worthy of the choir of those saved by him.

A PSALM OF DAVID. 8. For the end, concerning the winepresses.

The things now prophesied for the consummation of the ages brought about the inscription, 'For the end.' And 'concerning the winepresses' because of the Churches established in all the earth, which are called winepresses by the rule of allegory. When there was one people, and this was Israel, for whom the temple among them served as a tower, and the altar before the temple as a wine vat, according to the voice of Isaiah. But the multitude of winepresses now signifies the many altars, distributed among the individual churches. Therefore, also in Psalm 83, which is inscribed in the 23.128 same manner, many altars and tabernacles and courts are divinely proclaimed, according to 'How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord;' after which he adds, 'Your altars, O Lord of hosts.' O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is your name in all the earth! For your magnificence is exalted above the heavens. Out of the mouth of infants and

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Ἀπαγγελῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου, ἐν μέσῳ Ἐκκλησίας ὑμνήσω σε. Καὶ ὑπὲρ ταύτης εἰς ὕψος ἐπίστρεφον, Κύριος κρινεῖ λαούς. Κρῖνόν με, Κύριε, κατὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην σου, καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀκακίαν μου ἐπ' ἐμέ. Ἐπειδὴ πᾶν τὸ ποίημα ἄξει ὁ Θεὸς εἰς κρίσιν, καὶ τοὺς πάντας δεῖ παραστῆναι τῷ βήματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, εἰκότως μαθὼν ὁ ∆αυῒδ, ὅτι μέλλει κρίνειν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ λαοὺς ἐν εὐθύτητι· Γενοῦ, φησὶ, κἀμοῦ κριτὴς, ὦ Κύριε, μὴ κατὰ τὰς λοιπάς μου πράξεις, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν ἁπλότητά μου καὶ δικαιοσύνην. 23.125 Συντελεσθήτω δὴ πονηρία ἁμαρτωλῶν καὶ κατευθυνεῖς δίκαιον, ἐτάζων καρδίας καὶ νεφροὺς ὁ Θεός. Ἐπιστημονικὸν καὶ μέγα τὸ πέρας αἰτεῖσθαι γενέσθαι κακίας, κυβέρνησιν δὲ τῷ δικαίῳ πρὸς τὸ μηκέτι χειμάζεσθαι. Περὶ δικαιοκρισίας εἰπὼν τοῦ Θεοῦ, μόνον δίκαιον ἀποφαίνει κριτὴν, ὡς καὶ μόνον ὁρῶντα καρδίας· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἀποδίδωσιν ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Ἄνθρωπος μὲν γὰρ εἰς ὄψιν ὁρᾷ· αὐτὸς δὲ κριτικός ἐστιν ἐνθυμήσεων καὶ ἐννοιῶν καρδίας· οὐκ ἔστι κρίσις ἀφανὴς ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ. Τοιοῦτον δείξας τὸν Θεὸν, πεπαῤῥησιασμένῳ συνειδότι φησίν· Ἡ βοήθειά μου παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ σώζοντος τοὺς εὐθεῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ. Χρηστὰ γὰρ ἐλπίζει διὰ τὸν ἐτάζοντα καρδίας καὶ νεφροὺς, ὡς δὴ σκολιὸν ἔχων οὐδὲν ἐν καρδίᾳ. Ἐὰν μὴ ἐπιστραφῆτε, τὴν ῥομφαίαν αὐτοῦ στιλβώσει· τὸ τόξον αὐτοῦ ἐνέτεινε καὶ ἡτοίμασεν αὐτό. Μήποτε παρασεσιωπημένως ταῦτα περὶ τοῦ διαβόλου λέγεται· οὗτος γὰρ πρὸς τούτους καὶ ὠδίνησεν ἀδικίαν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ἰδοὺ ὠδίνησεν ἀδικίαν, συνέλαβε πόνον, καὶ ἔτεκεν ἀνομίαν. Λάκκον ὤρυξε καὶ ἀνέσκαψεν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐμπεσεῖται εἰς βόθρον ὃν εἰργάσατο. Ἐπιστρέψει ὁ πόνος αὐτοῦ εἰς κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπὶ κορυφὴν αὐτοῦ ἡ ἀδικία αὐτοῦ καταβήσεται. Ταῦτα ῥητῶς ἐπ' Ἀχιτόφελ πεπλήρωται. Παρευδοκιμηθεὶς γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ Χουσὶ, καὶ τὰ πράγματα τοῦ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ, ὡς δὴ σοφὸς, ἀπογνοὺς, καὶ τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐκ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ φοβούμενος δίκην, οἴκαδε ἀναχωρήσας ἀπήγξατο, παθὼν ἅπερ ἐπεβούλευε παθεῖν τὸν ∆αυῒδ, καὶ τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ κακίαν ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ κεφαλὴν ἀπεμάξατο. Καὶ καθόλου δὲ πᾶς δι' ὧν εἰργάσατο κακῶν καθ' ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ψῆφον ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως φέρει. Ἐξομολογήσομαι τῷ Κυρίῳ κατὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ, ψαλῶ τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου τοῦ Ὑψίστου. Ὡς δὲ μηδενὶ αὐτὸς ἐπιβουλεύσας, μηδὲ λάκκον ὀρύξας, παρορῶν δὲ τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἀπολλυμένων ἐν κρίσει, Ἐξομολογήσομαι, φησὶ, τῷ Κυρίῳ κατὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ· Τὰ ἐμαυτοῦ δίκαια καθάπερ ἐν δικαστηρίῳ προθείς· καὶ ψαλῶ δὲ τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου τοῦ ὑψίστου· πιστεύων καταξιωθήσεσθαι τοῦ χοροῦ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ σωζομένων.

ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΤΩ ∆ΑΥΙ∆ Ηʹ. Εἰς τὸ τέλος ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν.

Τὰ ἐπὶ τῇ συντελείᾳ νῦν τῶν αἰώνων προφητευόμενα τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν, εἰς τὸ τέλος, ἐποίησεν. Ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν ληνῶν διὰ τὰς ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ συστάσας Ἐκκλησίας, ἀλληγορίας νόμῳ λεγομένας ληνούς. Ὅτε μὲν εἷς ἦν λαός· ἦν δὲ οὗτος Ἰσραὴλ, ᾧ ἐχρημάτιζε καὶ πύργος ὁ παρὰ τούτοις νεὼς, καὶ προλήνιον τὸ πρὸ τοῦ ναοῦ θυσιαστήριον κατὰ τὴν Ἡσαΐου φωνήν. Τὸ δὲ πλῆθος νυνὶ τῶν ληνῶν τὰ πολλὰ μηνύει θυσιαστήρια, ταῖς κατὰ μέρος ἐκκλησίαις συνδιαιρούμενα. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἐν πγʹ ψαλμῷ τὸν αὐτὸν ἐπιγραφέντι 23.128 τρόπον πολλὰ θυσιαστήρια καὶ σκηνώματα θεσπίζονται καὶ αὐλαὶ, κατὰ τὸ, Ὡς ἀγαπητὰ τὰ σκηνώματά σου, Κύριε τῶν δυνάμεων! ἐπιποθεῖ καὶ ἐκλείπει ἡ ψυχή μου εἰς τὰς αὐλὰς τοῦ Κυρίου· μεθ' ἃ ἐπάγει· Τὰ θυσιαστήριά σου, Κύριε τῶν δυνάμεων. Κύριε ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν, ὡς θαυμαστὸν τὸ ὄνομά σου ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ! Ὅτι ἐπήρθη ἡ μεγαλοπρέπειά σου ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν. Ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ